You've now made it to the state of Kentucky! Kentucky is known as the "Bluegrass State," which is derrived from the Kentucky bluegrass, a speicies found in many of the state's pastures, and is known for having a blueish hue.

In terms of politics, Kentucky is somewhat of an anomalee. Kentucky had voted for Democratic presidential candidates such as Lyndon Johnson, Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton, though in the 21st century, the state has always gone Republican in presidential races, but have elected Democratic candidates to state and local offices. In fact, as of March 2020, the plurality of voters in Kentucky are registered as Democrats, at 48.42%, compared to the 42.75% which are registered Republican.

Kentucky, unfortunately, was a slave state, but lacked the cotton plantations, and as such never had as high of a black population as other slave states. The state also enacted Jim Crow legislation, a term used to refer to any legislation promoting and/or ensuring segregation. This included an attempt at residential racial segregation, though this was struck down by the Supreme Court, as well as the Day Law, which prohibited schools from integrating races. This, on the other hand, was upheld by the Supreme Court. This segregation would end after the famous Brown v. Board of Education case, and Kentucky would become the first Southern State to adopt a state civil rights act.

In terms of modern culture, Kentucky is odd in that while most of its culture is considered southern, it has influences of Midwestern and Southern Appalachian culture in certain areas. Overall, the state is known for tobacco, horse racing, college basketball (especially the University of Kentucky's basketball team), and the distilling of whiskey, specifically bourbon whiskey, which is usually just called bourbon. As far as what separates other kinds of whiskey from bourbon, bourbon must be made in the United States, not necessarily Kentucky (though 95% of bourbon is made here), but the US, it must be aged in chared oak barrels, the mash must be at minimum 51% corn, though not greater than 80%, it cannot enter the barrel at over 125 proof and cannot enter the bottle under 80 proof, and it can only have water added to it, whereas other whiskeys can have color and flavor added (information courtesy of CNBC). As mentioned, 95% of all bourbon is made in this state, the picture on the right is of the Buffalo Trace Distillery (image courtesy of Kaplansa / Public domain).

Finally, of note is the music scene Kentucky has had. While not massive, it gave birth to the Bluegrass genre, which should come as no suprise as the genre is named after the state's nickname. It also boasts being connected to the Everly Brothers (who are also connected with a town in a different state, see if you can find it!), and being the home of Adrian Belew, guitarist for King Crimson, as well as the band Cage the Elephant (all information couretsy of Wikipedia.com unless otherwise cited).